Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what safeguards her Department has put in place to ensure UK aid projects in Burma are not purchasing goods and services from military-owned or controlled companies.

Before DFID Burma’s programmes work with private sector companies we conduct vetting and due diligence to identify and screen out any companies or individuals who may have military links. It is however difficult in Burma to assert that none of our project partners are not purchasing any goods or services from military-owned or controlled companies. Over 50 years of dictatorship the military has built up a range of commercial interests. The services and goods they provide range from drinking water to port handling services and mobile phone towers.